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Intelligent Networks • Smart Objects • Design for Humans |
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| Wednesday, June 29, 2005 |
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Warp Speed for Wireless Networks
As new technologies for wireless networks race to speeds significantly faster than Wi-Fi, a gold-rush mentality has created a fiercely competitive market that, having yet to agree on even the most basic standards for the future, will provide users with a dizzying array of options. While technologies such as Intel's new WiMax seeks to overtake Wi-Fi, the battle is also on for the future of short-distance connectivity, as at least six alternatives to Bluetooth are in the works. However, next year's debut of 802.11n is poised to increase current Wi-Fi speeds tenfold, so supplanting its market share will not be easy. "Because Wi-Fi was so popular, it takes away a lot of the demand for other technologies," says analyst Allen Nogee, citing its user-friendly simplicity. MIMO, a radio technology popular among cellular networks, is one contender in the battle to overtake Wi-Fi. MIMO promises high-quality, cell network video, and may be an alternative to Ethernet connections, said Airgo CEO and MIMO inventor Greg Raleigh. Still, WiMax's 30-mile network capacity may give it an edge in sparsely populated settings. In the short range market, ZigBee technology, supported by Freescale and Analog Devices, may win out as it supports a wide spectrum of household applications, such as remotely transmitting readings from a utility meter and powering a home theater system. The one hope for cooperation in the market may be efforts such as Intel and Freescale's initiative to fuse multiple technologies onto a single chip. Still, companies such as Dell, among others, remain cautious, and are opting to wait to see which technologies drop off before they choose the one to endorse.
[ACM TechNews]
12:38:16 PM
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